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GPL Compliance Lawsuits

by
brett
Contributions
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Published on
Nov 29, 2007 01:37 PM

There's been a lot of news coverage recently about the lawsuits
Busybox has filed against GPL violators. They're getting a lot of
attention because analysts are interested in seeing if the GPL will be
tested in a U.S. court. But that's not all the big news in the world of
GPL enforcement: there's also a case
in France over the Freebox that's starting up. The Freebox is a
very popular cable box in France, so it's a high-profile case that's taking
a lot of effort and coordination.

Because so much has happened so quickly, some people have speculated
that developers' attitudes about GPL enforcement have changed. In reality,
I don't think that's the case. To put it simply, filing lawsuits isn't
fun. It takes a lot of time and energy that most people would rather spend
elsewhere. These are all cases where the developers have tried hard to
amicably work with the violators for compliance, and have been met with
stonewalling and resistance. Compliance efforts around Freebox have been
going on for years, to no avail.

One of the major goals of the GPL, and one of the main reasons so many
software authors choose it, is to create a commons of software that
everyone can share and build upon. All these developers would be satisfied
just to see these companies follow the GPL's rules and contribute to that
commons. Unfortunately, when a company fails to do that and won't respond
to polite requests, legal action is the only major option left to address
the problem. These lawsuits only demonstrate how serious we all are about
protecting software freedom.